Sensory, Fine Motor, and Language groups for children with disabilities

Peter Pan

We had so much fun preparing for this week’s theme which was filled with fun and lots of pixie dust :).

Our sensory groups explored boxes related to the various characters seen in the Peter Pan story. The fine motor groups both used glitter to complete their art projects and the language group dressed like lost boys while playing Follow the Leader! All of the groups had so much fun seeing their friends dressed as characters in the book.

SENSORY GROUP

The color GREEN is all over the Peter Pan story—-from Tinker Bell and Peter Pan’s clothing to that enormous crocodile! Even Neverland itself is mostly green! With all that green, we had to include a box of this fabulous green kinetic sand. Kinetic sand is always pretty irresistible but with this bright color—-it was even more so!!! There was a letter “P” cookie cutter included in this box but most of us just enjoyed watching it dribble through our fingers.

Identify objects by one observable property, such as color, is a science access point.

We made a night sky for our little Wendy to fly through and included a couple of stars to count. There was also a picture of Peter Pan himself to find at the bottom of the box. The students really enjoyed running their hands through the beans—-a completely different texture compared to the kinetic sand!

The math access points recognize differences in size of objects and associate quantities with number names can be addressed here.

This Captain Hook box was filled with fun. There was treasure to find as well as some “piratey” stuff—-like a hook, an eye patch, and spy glass. There were also Captain Hook and crocodile figurines! We even put in a toy clock—–the students had a blast!

Recognize a model of a real object is a science access point.

The Mr. Smee box contained red and white pompoms and beads for sorting fun. The items could be sorted by color or texture. As usual, the beads proved to be very popular.

Match objects with similar observable properties, such as size, shape, color, or texture is a science access point.

These pixie dust bottles were just fabulous and VERY eye catching. The students loved watching the the glitter swirl around!

Recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move can be addressed in this activity.

Peter Pan told Wendy to “fly to the second star to the right and then straight on ’til morning”. We mixed our yellow play dough with lots of gold glitter for a perfect sparkle!

With the included 2 cookie cutters, the math access point recognize differences in size of objects is addressed.

Our mermaid lagoon, scented with plumeria scented bath gel from Bath and Bodyworks, had a cute little mermaid and a water lily with an extra special feature—-it lit up! The students had lots of splashy fun with this activity and were especially fascinated by the lighted flower.

Recognize sources of light is a science access point.

The students really liked the scent we chose this week. We chose plumeria as a nod to Princess Tiger Lily—-it was the closest scent we had to lilies so we went with it 🙂

It was perfect for rubbing on hands, arms, ……..and the back of a neck!

Recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli is a science access point.

We finished our group by turning off the lights and bringing out our fairy umbrella. This was a huge hit—-the students loved seeing all the twinkling “fairies” hidden among the flowers. Of course, we included a little Tinker Bell figure to fly around with her friends.

This is probably the prettiest umbrella we have ever made—–just magical!

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday our students turned into little pirates! We used this template: hook template to cut hooks out of poster board and taped them to large craft sticks.

We squeezed glue onto the hooks and used a sponge brush to spread the glue around on both sides. This was a great activity for working on bilateral coordination.

This also addresses the science access point recognize pushing and pulling an object makes it move.

Next we sprinkled on some silver glitter. Lots of glitter ended up on the bottom of our tray, so the students could also dip their “hooks” into that as well.

Recognize a change in an object is a science access point.

The hooks were slipped into some paper cups and……Ta Da——Captain Hook at your service!

On Wednesday our fine motor group made their own pixie dust bottles!

First the students chose which color glitter glue they wanted to use for their bottles. Then they deposited the glue into their bottles—–squeezing the bottle 3 times.

Associate quantities with number names is a math access point.

Then they got to add some regular glitter—either silver or gold to their bottle. To make things easier we used a funnel. We did help the students a little bit with this part, to make sure they didn’t dump the entire container into the bottle—-kids will be kids, after all 🙂

The science access point track objects in motion can be addressed as the students watch the glitter fall.

Warm water was added next. A 1 cup scoop was used for the water and after each scoop we asked the students if they needed “more”. When we got to the top of the bottle we discussed that we had added “enough”. Occasionally we also got to discuss the concept of “too much” 🙂

Solve problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language, such as enough, too much, or more is a math access point.

After an adult hot glued the lids back onto their bottles we asked the students to shake everything up—-then TA DA!

Can you feel the magic?!!!!

LANGUAGE GROUP

Following the leader was the name of the game in the language group this week and it was so much fun!

First we brought out a variety of animal hats and let the students choose which one they wanted to wear. We also used a Peter Pan hat to let them take turns being the leader. The rest of the group wore their different animal hats and headbands to dress up like the Lost Boys (and Girls).

We put on the song “Following the Leader” from the Peter Pan cartoon and set off!

Whoever was the leader had to lead the rest of the group OVER the stepping stones, THROUGH the cones, AROUND the tables, and UNDER the swing.

Recognize a movement that reflects a spatial relationship is a math access point.

Each of our students got to take a turn as the leader and they all got to be a variety of different animals as the Lost Boys and Girls.

About jd785

Joy (Occupational Therapist), Cara (Speech Therapist) and Joi (Teacher) work with students who have significant intellectual differences. We look for ways to provide multi-sensory learning experiences to enable our students to improve their literacy, fine motor, and communication skills.